HappyGeorge
Fish Herder
Just thought this info might serve to stop some peoples panic.
Did my weekly tank maintenance last week and accidentally left my main filter turned off for 16 hours before I realised.
My tank is a 450 litre Malawi set up with a Fluval U4 internal filter, set up with various sponges but no biomax or carbon this filter remained on. My main filter is an FX5, it has 2 baskets of Biomax and one of pond filter sponge and biozorb carbon, each basket also has a polishing pad on top.
Was panicking when I found I hadn't turned it back on and after doing an internet search and seeing all the stuff about bacteria dying after 2 or 3 hours of no water flowing over them, I was unsure whether to turn it back on. I took the plunge and now after a week of it running again I can report that I saw absolutely no change in water chemistry.
The readings were 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 20 nitrates before, and every day after the water change and filter mistake.
So it would appear that all the doom and gloom reports of bacteria dying within very short time periods are inaccurate?
The tank has been running since the 17th September and has weekly 15% changes, the fx5 had been cleaned (no media change, just rinsed in bucket) 2 weeks previous to the incident.
Did my weekly tank maintenance last week and accidentally left my main filter turned off for 16 hours before I realised.
My tank is a 450 litre Malawi set up with a Fluval U4 internal filter, set up with various sponges but no biomax or carbon this filter remained on. My main filter is an FX5, it has 2 baskets of Biomax and one of pond filter sponge and biozorb carbon, each basket also has a polishing pad on top.
Was panicking when I found I hadn't turned it back on and after doing an internet search and seeing all the stuff about bacteria dying after 2 or 3 hours of no water flowing over them, I was unsure whether to turn it back on. I took the plunge and now after a week of it running again I can report that I saw absolutely no change in water chemistry.
The readings were 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 20 nitrates before, and every day after the water change and filter mistake.
So it would appear that all the doom and gloom reports of bacteria dying within very short time periods are inaccurate?
The tank has been running since the 17th September and has weekly 15% changes, the fx5 had been cleaned (no media change, just rinsed in bucket) 2 weeks previous to the incident.
